Vin Diesel’s Bloodshot Trailer Released

Sony has released the second trailer for Bloodshot, the Vin Diesel-starring adaptation of the Valiant Comics series of the same name. This is the second major comic book-related trailer drop for the studio this week, as yesterday morning gave fans their first look at Morbius, the Spider-Man tie-in starring Jared Leto in the lead role. Bloodshot is just two months away from its planned March release, and while fans got a trailer late last year, blockbuster audiences are used to an embarrassment of pre-release riches. So far, Sony has been keeping things pretty close to the chest, but this second trailer is likely the thing that’s going to start the real promotional push, as fans begin seeing the toys and merch in the retail markets.

Originally created by Kevin VanHook, Don Perlin and Bob Layton, Bloodshot appeared briefly in Eternal Warrior and Rai before getting his own series. The relative simplicity of his character likely made him an ideal starting point for Valiant movies, since other popular properties from the publisher have more elaborate setups (X-O Manowar is about a viking who is abducted by aliens and gets a suit of futuristic armor; Harbinger centers on a group of characters and would likely introduce several major players instead of just one or two).

Per the official synopsis, Bloodshot follows Ray Garrison, aka Bloodshot, a deceased soldier resurrected by weapons contractor Rising Spirit Technologies through the use of nanotechnology. Suffering from total memory loss but imbued with an array of staggering new abilities, Ray struggles to reconnect with who he was while learning what sort of weapon he has become…aided by a team of fellow augmented combatants codenamed Chainsaw.

People close to the film have described it as reminiscent of 1980s tentpoles like RoboCop, Terminator, and Total Recall. This will be the first feature-film appearance for a Valiant character, but not the first time we have seen Bloodshot in live action. The character previously appeared in live-action though in Bat in the Sun’s Ninjak Vs. The Valiant Universe, which had Jason David Frank in the fan-favorite role. Unlike the unofficial crossover battle videos Bat in the Sun are known for, Ninjak vs. was actually created with Valiant completely on board.

In the comics, Bloodshot is a super soldier created by Project Rising Spirit, a secret government organization with bad intent. Bloodshot was injected with microscopic computer nanites that give him a variety of powers, including an almost-instantaneous healing factor and the ability to change his skin to match his surroundings, giving him camouflage.

Project Rising Spirit also left him with several implanted memories in his mind. Bloodshot has always questioned which ones are true, and which ones are implanted, and knows little to nothing about his time before being Bloodshot. He was originally commissioned to hunt down psiots (a group of superhumans in the Valiant universe who have mental powers), but eventually, he broke free of his programming.

Bloodshot is the debut feature from director Dave Wilson (a partner at Blur Studios alongside Deadpool director Tim Miller), written by Eric Heisserer (Arrival), and produced by Neal Moritz (Fast and The Furious), Toby Jaffe (Happy!), and Dinesh Shamdasani (ex-Valiant CEO & Chief Creative Officer); it also co-stars Guy Pearce (Memento, LA Confidential), Eiza Gonzalez (Baby Driver) and Sam Heughan (Outlander).

Bloodshot hits theaters on March 13.